


a great miracle

by MiniNephthys



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hanukkah, part 1 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:46:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27830224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: Roman teaches Mash how to play dreidel, and other things.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 85





	a great miracle

“Oh, Mash, would you like to play a game with me?”

Roman has a four-sided top. The letters on it aren’t ones Mash recognizes from her English studies, and it takes her a moment to place them as Hebrew.

“A game…?”

Roman opens a bag of golden coins and pours them out over the table. “A holiday starts tonight, so I thought we could celebrate together.”

“I can’t use coins for anything, Doctor,” Mash says. All her needs are provided for in Chaldea without her needing to purchase them.

Roman chuckles. “They’re made of chocolate, not real coins.”

“Oh!” Roman has given her chocolate before, and it’s delicious. “I would love to play.”

So Roman teaches her the rules. Each round, put a piece of gelt in the pot and spin the dreidel. If it lands on nun, you do nothing; gimmel, you get everything in the pot; hey, you get half the pot; and shin, you put one of your coins in the pot.

“The letters stand for ‘nes gadol haya sham’, which means ‘a great miracle happened there’ in Hebrew,” Roman says. “It commemorates the oil for the sacred flame in the temple lasting eight days instead of one, after the Maccabees drove out the Romans.”

Mash nods along. “How else do you celebrate Hanukkah?”

“Well, you light candles every night and recite prayers. We eat a lot of fried food - remind me to get you some latkes next time, they’re delicious - give each other gifts and sing songs.”

Her eyes sparkle. “Can you sing, Doctor?”

Roman rubs the back of his neck. “I’m not that good at it…”

“Oh… That’s okay.” Mash folds her hands in her lap. “It’s just that I’ve never heard someone sing before.”

After a second, Roman clears his throat. “…I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay…”

He’s the best singer Mash has ever heard, and he only looks a little embarrassed when Mash tells him so. She ends up asking him for every Hanukkah song he knows until his voice is hoarse.

“I don’t have any gifts I can give you,” she says. “But I hope you can celebrate with everyone else in the staff.”

“I’m actually the only Jewish person in Chaldea,” he answers. “Getting to celebrate with you was wonderful, I’m usually doing everything by myself.”

“Then…!” On impulse, she reaches for his hands to squeeze them. “You can celebrate any of your holidays with me, Doctor! I’ll do my best to learn about all of them!”

Roman’s eyes go wide for a second, before he smiles warmly. “Thank you, Mash.”

* * *

“Um…”

Mash hovers in the doorway to Avicebron’s workshop. She can see that his usual menorah has been replaced by a hanukkiah.

While David fights with the matches and Sheba offers (probably not for the first time) to just get a djinn to light the candles for them, Avicebron turns to her. “Do you need something?”

“Would… would it be okay if I said the Hanukkah prayers with you?” Mash bites her lip. “I don’t want to be a bother, but… when the doctor was here, we always…”

“Oh, Mash. Of course you can join us.” Sheba gently pulls Mash into a hug, and strokes her hair when she starts to sniffle. “I’m sure it would make him very happy.”


End file.
